Guns N' Roses

Guns N' Roses were founded in Los Angeles in June 1985. The band was formerly Axl Rose (vocals), Tracii Guns (guitar), Izzy Stradlin (guitar), Ole Beich (bass) and Rob Gardner. Guns, Gadner and Beich were eventually substituted by guitarist Slash, drummer Steven Adler and bassist Duff McKagan respectively. In 1986 the band produced an EP called Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide, which caught Geffen Records executives’ attention. The band signed with that label and, under Alan Niven’s management, the band released Appetite for Destruction (1987). The album sold twenty million copies and reached #1 on the charts (it is still the best-selling album of all time). It included the songs "Welcome to the Jungle", "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "Paradise City", all of which were top ten singles on the Billboard charts. The band began touring extensively on their Appetite for Destruction Tour.

In 1988 Guns N’ Roses released their second album G N’ R Lies which included the full Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide EP. The album soon caused controversy as Axl was accused of racism and homophobia due to the lyrics of “One In A Million”. The band’s infamy of bad conduct led the label to demand the band to modify their habits. In 1990, Guns N’ Roses went back to recording. The band had to fire Adler because of his drug abuse and was replaced by former Cult drummer Matt Sorum. They also added another member, Dizzy Reed on Keyboards. The band produced enough material to release two separate albums, Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, on September 1991. The tactic paid off when the albums debuted as #2 and #1 respectively on the Billboard charts. The tour for those albums, the Use Your Illusion Tour, became famous for its financial success and its controversial incidents.

In 1993, Guns N’ Roses released The Spaghetti Incident?, a collection of covers of mostly punk music. It also featured a cover of Charles Manson's song "Look at Your Game Girl" that Axl included despite his fellow band member’s opposition. The record failed to achieve a similar success as the previous albums. On top of that, tensions among band members increased leading them to separate from the band, eventually leaving Axl Rose as the only member of the original band.